Master of Illusion

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 4, 2003

EVERETT – Jevon Butler is the real deal.

He’s also a faker.

Combine those two elements, and you have the heart of the Archbishop Murphy football team’s offense.

Butler’s size, speed and determination make him a player rarely seen in Class A football. He has been virtually impossible to shut down as a ballcarrier and focal point during the entire three-year history of football at Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy High School.

When he’s not the one carrying the ball, he is equally impressive.

His ability to pretend he has the ball while a teammate carries it in the other direction has led to countless big plays by his fellow Wildcats.

Archbishop Murphy coach Terry Ennis has coached 313 varsity football games, winning 235 of them. He’s won 10 of 11 possible league titles as the head coach at Cascade, with help from Jevon’s older brothers, Toure, J.J. and Craig. Countless quality running backs have learned the art of the play-fake at the School of Ennis. He says Butler’s faking ability has surpassed his teaching.

“He’s really the best at that that I’ve been around,” said Ennis, whose 13-0 team will shoot for a second straight Class A state title, 1 p.m. Saturday at the Tacoma Dome against 12-0 Zillah. “I won’t take any credit for it. Jevon has learned to be very realistic and fool people.”

Butler, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound fullback, averages only 16 carries per game this season, but might be tackled as many times without the ball. He estimates that officials have stopped plays eight or nine times in the last two seasons, believing Butler was tackled with the ball.

Then they realize, to their almost certain embarrassment, that someone else in Archbishop Murphy’s arsenal of backs had the ball.

“There’s been a couple of times this year where we’ve faked it to him and they’ve blown the whistle while we’re running it the other way for a touchdown,” said quarterback Kyle Wilkins, who is adept at selling his half of the fake. “That pretty much explains itself. If you watch film, you’ll see four or five guys chasing him when someone else has the ball.”

When Butler gets tackled without the ball, he knows he’s done his job.

“This year, I have a big target on my jersey,” said Butler, who has rushed for 1,784 yards and 21 TDs despite missing two games. “Everyone is gunning for me. To get more pressure off of me, I’ve got to do something besides just blocking. And that’s fake as good as possible, because it opens up things for everyone else.”

When Jevon entered Cascade High School as a freshman, he thought he’d follow his brothers’ cleat steps on the football field. Though most assume Jevon and brother J.T. Butler, a 2002 Archbishop Murphy graduate, changed schools to play for a legendary coach, the Butlers say there was much more to the decision than football.

“When I was at Cascade, I was easily distracted from my homework,” said Butler, who will visit the University of Washington next week. ” (His family) noticed that private school would be a lot harder on me and be more of a challenge. They knew I’d work harder.”

Butler’s mother, Feneda Butler, knew her son was going to be something special on the football field. Though he has a quiet demeanor like his brothers, it didn’t take her long to realize there would be two differences.

“He’s taller and bigger,” said Feneda Butler, who missed the 2002 state championship game after suffering a heart attack, of her youngest son.

Though there is much more to Butler than football, he’ll be remembered, along with Ennis, as the one who put Wildcats football on the map. He’s rushed for 4,725 yards and 51 touchdowns despite numerous nagging injuries. Many of the injuries have come from the disregard he shows his own body when he levels an opponent from his free safety position.

He talked his way onto the field late in the first quarter of the state first-round victory over Adna, begging Ennis to let him play with a sprained shoulder. Ennis relented, but wouldn’t let him play defense that day. Butler broke his left pinky in the first half of the Wildcats’ semifinal victory over Cascade Christian. He didn’t bother to look at it for several plays, after which he noticed his finger’s unnatural shape.

“He plays hurt all the time,” receiver-cornerback Ian Telge said. “He’s a trooper. He goes out there every time and gives it his all.”

He’ll be remembered as much for that as leading his team to two state championship games.